The Amazons have been listed on nearly every 'artists to watch' lists for 2017 and it's no surprise as they have been independently building their sound for years.

NME, Radio 1, Dork and Apple Music are just a number of music sites to feature the four piece group from Reading in their annual round ups of who we should be listening to for the next 12 months.

But this wasn't an overnight success as lead singer Matt Thomson puts it: "The last two years we have done our own thing carving our own path and to be recognised by those platforms now has come at a good time.

"It's now that we have our own identity. It will help us but not define us.

"It's the right time to get in front of people next summer with the finished album, we don't feel pressure of writing an album, we can play to as many people as possible and feel vindicated."

The Amazons will headline The Boileroom on March 16

In 2016 alone they have played 75 gigs across Europe as well as recording a full album. Matt quips, "I keep a tally in my notebook of how many miles and shows we do."

For years now the group have been touring after forming in 2014, but three of the members have been friends since high school.

Matt says: "When I was at school I'd jam in the music rooms at lunch time while everyone else was playing football.

"Me and Elliot met a decade ago then we added Chris and met eight drummers in 18 months before we found Joe.

"It all kind of clicked from there, which is what happens for people who end up in successful bands."

The group formed in Reading in 2014 but three members have been friends since school

But their heavy rock sound we've seen glimpses of on their single releases and on live performances hasn't always been the case, it was pretty different for the group when they first began experimenting.

Matt says: "We went through an electronic stage, we were concerned with the charts and thinking 'we need to be successful'.

"It was pretty obvious we wouldn't carry on that way, so we stripped back and just put on the guitars, thought 'who cares' and played what sounded cool and made us excited."

They then continued to run things their own way, they created their own label Goth Cruise and released music without the control of a management or a major label.

This allowed them to be authentic and as Matt explains: "Our ethos was that we were confident in what we were doing, so why not try and get as far as possible until managers needed to come into play.

"The Internet brings so many possibilities to do it all yourselves - and better.

"We would go to WHSmith and buy CDs, burn our demos onto them and sell them ourselves at gigs.

"It gave us a really core fan base who want it to be real and say they discovered you. They're really passionate now and we see the same people again at shows."

They have been shortlisted on a number of 'Artists to Watch in 2017' lists including NME and Apple Music

The upcoming tour sees the group play 40 dates across Europe, kicking off in the New Year visiting Guildford as well as Liverpool, Glasgow and Dublin to name a few.

On their biggest headline tour to date Matt says: "We're just going to knuckle down and do it, we're trying to be ambitious and add production.

"I'm actually e-mailing our manager as we speak finalising the support acts - we can't tell you who they are - but it's a really exciting couple of bands who we're genuine fans of."

It was later confirmed that the group will be supported by Estrons, Cupids and Otherkin across various dates on their European tour.

On their growing success and sound over the past few years and continuing that into 2017 Matt says: "When you first start a band making an album seems such a far off thing.

"Now this is our chance to make our mark on the rich tapestry of rock 'n' roll."

Tickets for The Amazons at Guildford's Boileroom on Thursday March 16 and the rest of the tour can be purchased from We Got Tickets now.